60
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
The Salt of the Earth leaves no doubt about Mr. Salgado’s talent or decency, and the chance to spend time in his company is a reason for gratitude. And yet his pictures, precisely because they disclose harsh and unwelcome truths, deserve a harder, more robustly critical look.
80
The Guardian by Andrew Pulver
The co-operation between Wenders and Salgado Jr works well, mixing the former's heavyweight presence as both interviewer and storyteller, and the latter's ability to harvest intimate, deep-buried subtleties that may otherwise not have seen the light of day. Together they have made a moving tribute to a peerless talent.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
The Salt of the Earth doesn’t reveal so much as gracefully confirm that the empathy and humanism that make Salgado’s photojournalistic work so special are also a part of the artist’s outlook on life.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Chris Nashawaty
With this heartbreaking yet hopeful new documentary about his life’s work, Salgado shares the stories behind these split-second black-and-white moments, giving them even more dimension.
75
Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard
It evolves into an intimate reverie on family and aesthetics, while remaining sporadically attuned to the reflexive and ethical dimensions of ethnographic discovery.
90
Variety by Jay Weissberg
Wim Wenders’ mastery of the documentary form is again on display in The Salt of the Earth.
90
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
The Salt of the Earth deals with two kinds of journeys the photographer made. The outward one may have literally taken him to the furthest corners of the Earth and resulted in the stunning images the film features, but it is the inward journey that paralleled it that completely holds our attention.
91
The Playlist by Rodrigo Perez
The Salt of The Earth is a mesmeric and unforgettable look at the world and it sufferings through the eyes of a remarkably insightful and honorable artist.
100
New York Post by Sara Stewart
Many of the images — and Salgado’s accounts of taking them — are as soul-shattering as they are breathtaking.
90
Village Voice by Stephanie Zacharek
The movie Wenders and Juliano have made is a tribute that feels both grand and modest in scale: Just as Salgado's photographs do, it extends the notion of friends and family to include every citizen of the world.